Eichmann Trial -- Session 99 -- Cross-examination of the Accused

Footage begins in the middle of Session 99 with the continuation of cross examination by Attorney General Gideon Hausner. Eichmann is questioned about the Economic-Administrative Main Office's recognition of two categories of Jews 1) transport Jews who arrived based on instructions from Eichmann's section and 2) custody Jews, who arrived on instruction from Department IVC2 (00:00:34). Hausner goes on to question the accused about instances in which Jews who couldn't be included in transports were ensured, by Eichmann, to be sent to Auschwitz as inmates in "protective custody" (00:01:30). The accused is handed a document. There is a close-up of Eichmann's hands (00:02:53). Eichmann states that he did not handle this matter; Rolf Günther (his deputy) did, and must have acted on the instructions given by the Chief of Department IV (Heinrich Müller) (00:03:08). The footage from the beginning of the tape until Eichmann looking over a document is duplicate footage also found on Tape 2164 (from 01:03:07 to 01:05:29). Cross examination continues with Eichmann being questioned about how often he visited Warsaw, Poland during the war (00:04:57) and whether he went there before or after the April 1942 Ghetto Uprising (00:05:28). He replies that it must have been after the uprising because he saw ruins. The accused is further questioned if he knows a man named Georg Michelson (00:05:59) and Hausner notes that this man saw him in Warsaw in July/August 1942 in connection with the liquidation of the ghetto (00:06:15). A document is presented to the accused (00:06:53) containing a report on a meeting Eichmann took part in concerning the Warsaw Ghetto with the Foreign Ministry representatives in Poland in April 1942. Eichmann is shown examining the document and replies that he is familiar with the document but it does not mean that he was in Poland because correspondence between the Reich Main Security Office and the Foreign Ministry was common. It is shown that someone named Wieler recorded the report on the meeting and states that Eichmann conducted the meeting as a representative for the Chief of the Reich Main Security Office (00:12:33). Eichmann states that he participated but did not conduct the meeting (00:12:54). Hausner reminds the accused that during his interrogation he said that he was in Warsaw in April 1942 at a meeting on Jews of foreign nationality (00:14:25). Questions continue with Hausner asking the accused why a document shows that he was involved in the issuing of death certificates for the Jews of Warsaw (00:17:26). Eichmann testifies that he does not know anything about this and Hausner continues to question him about his involvement in counter-signing instructions concerning the Warsaw Ghetto. When Hausner states that this matter of signing and counter-signing concerned half a million Jews, Eichmann states that he had nothing to do with the killing of those half-million Jews (00:24:13). Another document is read, in German, by Hausner concerning the Warsaw Ghetto noting that "special circumstances would make it necessary to segregate the ghetto inhabitants to a greater extent than previously from the rest of the population" (00:24:31). Eichmann states that he does not know anything and that the Foreign Ministry and the General Government must have dealt with this matter. Hausner tells the accused that his signature is on the document. Judge Landau asks that the accused be shown the document (00:27:13). Eichmann responds testifying that there were plans for deportations and that the Reich Main Security Office and Department IVB4 had to ensure that the Jews with foreign nationality were removed but denies that his section was responsible for the deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto (00:28:14). The footage beginning with Hausner's questioning about the death certificates for the Warsaw Jews through cross examination on the Jews with foreign nationality is duplicate footage also found on Tape 2165 (from 00:11:03 to 00:30:07). The discussion of the removal of Jews with foreign nationality continues with Hausner asking the accused why it was necessary that he be informed of atrocity stories being published abroad if he had nothing to do with the evacuations and suppression of the uprising of the ghetto (00:40:26). Eichmann is asked why affairs of Jews with foreign nationality were left up to him and not the General Government (00:44:49). A discussion ensues about directives and the issuing of orders concerning the General Government. Hausner asks Eichmann to indicate who in the Reich Main Security Office was entitled to issue instructions for the General Government and Eichmann notes that this was the responsibility of Heinrich Müller, Reinhard Heydrich, or Ernst Kaltenbrunner (00:50:12). A diagram is presented to the accused showing that Müller was denied the right to issue orders (00:51:30). Eichmann is shown examining the document and proceeds to explain the diagram by pointing to the various roles of each person trying to show that Müller was responsible for giving instructions to various heads in the General Government, the Protectorate, and The Hague (00:52:22). The camera shows a close-up of the diagram (00:52:59 and 00:53:10). The discussion continues with Eichmann insisting that Müller gave instructions to the Commander of the Security Police in Cracow, Poland. The remaining footage concerns Müller's capacity to issue orders in the General Government (00:55:38). Judge Benjamin Halevi questions the accused about the meaning of the term "resettlement" (00:57:04), Judge Landau asks about the term "ghettoization," and Hausner asks whether the word "Evakuierung" was ever used. Hausner questions Eichmann about Müller and whether he ever issued orders relative to "resettlement" operations in the General Government (00:59:53). Emil Knebel was a cinematographer known for Andante (2010), Adam (1973), and Wild Is My Love (1963). He was one of the cameramen who recorded daily coverage of the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem (produced by Capital Cities Broadcasting Corp and later held academic positions in Israel and New York teaching filmmaking at universities. Refer to CV in file.